This invention relates to sprinkler devices employed for irrigating purposes and particularly stream rotor type sprinklers having a rotating spray head with a surrounding crown type of stream deflector for breaking up the jet stream of water in an irregular manner.
A stream rotor sprinkler having a rotatable nozzle assembly for discharging a stream of water past a rotatable crown type deflector is illustrated in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,000. In the sprinkler of my prior patent, the deflector is rotatably mounted to the sprinkler about the nozzle assembly and is continuously driven by the nozzle assembly. In the exemplary embodiment of that patent, a plurality of rolling members were carried by a skirt portion of the deflector and were in rolling contact with a skirt portion of the nozzle assembly so that the deflector rotated in the same direction, but at approximately one-half the speed, of the nozzle to produce an irregular spray pattern as the water stream from the rotating nozzle impinged upon different portions of the deflector.
While the stream rotor sprinkler of my aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,000 has been successful and produces a desired irregular spray pattern, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide such a stream rotor sprinkler and crown type deflector assembly wherein a more simple, less expensive and more easily assembled construction is employed for mounting and driving the deflector relative to the housing.